DC Comics Wildstorm relaunch by Warren Ellis

WARREN ELLIS Relaunching DC’s WILDSTORM Line

Back in the 1990s a group of comic writers/artists decided to leave Marvel Comics and start their own publishing company. That publishing company was Image Comics. Jim Lee started his own comic book imprint under the Image banner. WildStorm Productions, or simply WildStorm, was originally an independent company. The imprint took its name from the combining of the titles of the Jim Lee comic series WildC.A.T.S. and Stormwatch.

WildStorm became a publishing imprint of DC Comics in 1999. The WildStorm imprint remained editorially separate from DC Comics until it was shut down in December 2010. In September 2011 the company relaunched its entire superhero line with a rebooted continuity in The New 52 initiative. They incorporated Wildstorm characters into that continuity along with its long-standing DC characters.

DC’s long-dormant WildStorm line is being relaunched in 2017 with one of the line’s most recognizable writers at the helm, Warren Ellis. The WildStorm line’s flagship title will be the ongoing monthly The Wild Storm by Ellis and artist Jon-Davis Hunt. It is scheduled to debut in February with rebooted versions of characters such as Grifter, Voodoo, the Engineer, Jenny Sparks, and more.

“After long reflection, I couldn’t turn down the invitation to renovate the house that Jim Lee built and refit its unique combination of cosmic paranoia and paramilitary conspiracy for the post-political space madness of the twenty-teens,” said Warren Ellis. “Looking back to look forward.” In addition to writing the core The Wild Storm title, Ellis will curate other titles for the line including WildC.A.T.S., Zealot, and Michael Cray (the WildStorm character Deathblow). No creative teams for these books were named.

“There are precious few visionaries in our business and fewer still like Warren who can elevate mythos with both stylistic panache and idiosyncratic spectacle,” said DC Co-Publisher Jim Lee. “His work at WildStorm remains the tone which best defines and reflects the WildStorm Universe. I know I speak for WildStorm fans the world over when I say I can’t wait to see what Warren and Jon have in store for fans in February!”